Tanks or containers for holding a volume of liquid, such as gasoline, diesel, water, pressurized fluids such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), propane, butane, and so on, come in a wide variety of volume capacities an dimensions. A fuel sender is most often associated with these tanks. One type of sending unit includes a float that rides on the surface of the liquid in the tank. The float is connected to one end of a pivot arm which is in turn connected to the lower end of a driven shaft that rotates about its axis in response to float movement. A magnet is typically located at the upper end of the driven shaft for driving an indicator associated with a gauge head when the shaft rotates to display a liquid level condition of the tank to an observer. A counter-weighted yoke is typically connected to the opposite end of the pivot arm on the other side of its pivot axis so that the float sits at the proper level on the liquid being measured. Due to the large variety of tank sizes and liquid types to be measured, and in the interest of economy, a liquid level sending unit can be customized for a particular tank configuration by providing an assortment of different interchangeable parts. Such a sending unit can be readily customized by specifying a tank size, driven shaft length, float length, and float arm length.
Depending on the particular float length and float arm length selected, as well as the particular fluid to be measured, different float materials, and so on, different gravitational forces will be present on the float, thus causing the float to sink into the fluid or rise above the fluid level. Accordingly, it is important to adjust the counterweight associated with the yoke so that the float rests at the proper position on top of the liquid surface with a predetermined portion or volume of the float located below the liquid surface.
However, adjusting the counterweight on the yoke is a very labor-intensive and time-consuming process and usually involves determining the weight of the float at the end of the pivot arm, removing material from the counterweight associated with the yoke, determining the new weight of the float, removing more material, and so on, until the proper float weight for the liquid to be measured has been reached. If too much material has been removed, new or additional counterweights must be added and the adjustment process started over again for the new weight.
It would therefore be desirous to provide a simple, straight forward solution that would reduce the time involved in counterbalancing the float.